If you have Rheumatoid Arthritis, then you know that this isn’t your grandmother’s stiffness…this feels as if someone has stapled your muscles to your bones. Not only is it as debilitating as the accompanying inflammation, arthritic stiffness can last for hours. Here are a few tips for reducing morning stiffness and preventing its recurrence throughout the day.
Stiffness is the hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis. In fact, stiffness is such an indicator that - for most rheumatologists - duration of morning stiffness is taken as a guide to the severity of the inflammatory process: the longer it takes you to “warm up,” the more severe the disease. And morning is not the only time that stiffness can occur. The “gelling effect” - an edema trapped within inflamed tissues leading to painful stiffness - can occur upon arising or following any prolonged sitting.
Unfortunately, as long as your Rheumatoid Arthritis is active, you will experience some stiffness. It is a part of the inflammatory process that scientists still don’t fully understand. Stiffness, however, is one aspect of Rheumatoid Arthritis over which you do have some control…and reducing stiffness can make a great deal of difference in reducing pain overall.
Fire and Ice
After medication, heat is the most widely used pain therapy. Heat works by increasing the blood flow to an area, making joints more comfortable and loosening them up. It also relieves pain and reduces muscles spasms caused by pain.
You Say Bathing; I Say Hydrotherapy
Make that morning shower first thing on your agenda; it can make a crucial difference in how you feel. Baths are good too, but showers are more effective in reaching all areas that feel quick-dried in cement. A good showerhead with different settings can work wonders on stiff upper backs.
Moist is Better
Moist heat seems to be more effective than dry. Moist heat packs are available at most drugstores and department stores. (It has been suggested that you can “convert” a heating pad by covering it with plastic and placing a warm, wet cloth on top, but for safety’s sake, please use an alternative method, like a wet, warm washcloth). For pain and stiffness in your hands, wrists, ankles and feet, you might consider buying a paraffin bath. Submerge the affected area into the hot paraffin several times to build up a coating and then wrap in plastic for thirty minutes. Not only does the heat soothe stiff, achy appendages, the oil in the paraffin soothes dry skin (a problem for many of us on corticosteroids).
Dry Heat
A standard heating pad is still a cheap, effective way of reducing stiffness. Recently, heating pads have become more versatile. Many are microwaveable, come in different sizes and shapes and some come with straps to attach to appendages. They are easy to make too. Heating pads are not without their dangers, however. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), more than 1,600 heating pad burns are treated each year in hospital emergency rooms.
Pain Relief in a Tube
While The Arthritis Foundation includes “topical creams” in its list of “harmless baloney” (see “Arthritis - Unproven Remedies”), topical analgesics can provide quick relief for arthritic stiffness. Called counterirritants, these creams, salves and ointments produce a warming or cooling effect that stimulate the nerve endings - distracting the brain’s attention from the greater source of discomfort. They have no healing effect (and be wary of any topical cream that makes claims to the contrary), but provide enough temporary relief to be worth a try. Many contain ingredients like menthol, oil of wintergreen, camphor, eucalyptus oil, dihydrochloride and methylnicotinate.
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Gross motor activities are considered to be very important among growing children. This is because they are still at a point in their lives when they are in the process of learning how to use their motor skills. If kids will not be able to develop their motor functions at their expected ages, they might experience problems growing up especially when they finally enter into primary school. If you see your kids becoming a little more unruly than before, just let them be and make sure that you are around to observe them. Aside from safety reasons, your own observation will also be a great way of finding out if your child grows up normally.
Gross motor activities for children are made to target different areas. If you put the deeper purposes aside, it is easy to realize why such activities easily entice children. Such types of activities are generally very active and allow children to move around as much as they want. Normal kids usually have little difficulty in doing these and as it happens, teachers are often the ones who experience a difficult time as they attempt to slow these kids down. But the same predicament may not happen for kids who are considered to be special. They lack certain types of motor functions and may only be able to so with assistance from their therapists or teachers.
So what do gross motor activities target? Well first of all, it helps establish balance among kids. As you can see, gross motor activities are composed of highly active skills which sometimes entail kids to cross beams and jump from one place to another. Without a sense of balance, kids will not be able to do such gross motor activities. The most typical type of gross motor activity which enforces balance is bike riding. Even if your kid simply relies on training wheels, they are still in a sense starting to actually realize the importance of having that sense of equilibrium.
Another important function of gross motor activities is to facilitate certain body awareness among children. As they move along and do certain tasks or go about the types of activities they wish to do, they begin to realize how certain body movements and proper posture and body control can enable them to do so. An example will be the transition from running to walking. Kids learn the sense of knowing how to speed up and slow down when running around. In effect, they learn how to control their movements accordingly.
Laterality is also another important function of gross motor activities. This simply means that kids finally gather a sense of left and right directions. Usually, gross motor activities made to target laterality can be enforced through board games or simple following of directions. Gross motor activities targeted towards laterality need not be as strenuous as the previous ones as they can be anything simple enough to understand by kids yet effective in promoting the sense of left and right directions.
One of the things most people are so frustrated about is trying to make hair grow faster. Although nowadays men do not seem to mind it that much, having bald spots is definitely not a simple matter among women. Trying to make hair grow faster can end up to be a very frustrating thing, as you try to do everything written in the books. You may also end up getting bankrupt from all of those hair growth products promising to bring back precious hair follicles within a matter of weeks. Truth is, you don’t need all of those things to make hair grow faster. Everything can happen naturally, if you only know how to stimulate it to happen.
Actually, there really is no quick fix when it comes to trying to make your hair grow faster. That will never happen. It entails a lot of process and lots of naturally stimulated growth before you will be able to achieve it. In addition, you will also have to give up on some things if you really want to have hair that has more volume and are considerably longer than usual. On the average, every person normally grows hair with only six inches at maximum in every year. That being said and found in the books, you can never really try to have waist-length hair in but a few months.
One of the most important and practical things to follow if you want to facilitate faster hair growth is the use of mild shampoo. Some experts even recommend that baby shampoos be used. Have you ever noticed how baby shampoos are specially formulated? It is made as such not just to protect the sensitive scalp of babies but also to help facilitate in hair growth. As babies, these kids still have thin hair which will grow through time. the use of mild shampoo allows a natural base which eliminates bacteria off from the hair without disturbing the scalp’s natural pH through harmful chemicals.
Another great way of making hair grow faster is by regularly trimming your hair. Yes, no matter how much you wanted it grow faster, you should make sure that you at least give in an inch’s trim every two months. This helps prevent split ends from entirely ruining your hair strands. Split ends can actually influence the growth of other split ends on other hair strands, which is why you can just end up finding out that most of your hair has two ends already. Split also cause hair to break easily and as that happens, your hair’s strands also become weaker.
It is also a good idea to eat protein rich foods. After all, you should care to remember that your hair is mostly composed of protein nutrients. Constant sun exposure and use of other hair products may cause substantial proteins to be eliminated off your hair. So to make sure that you keep the supply in check, stack up on protein rich foods in your diet. Also, stay away from smoking and consuming too much alcohol.
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Oily skin is not just a product of puberty. Although this type of skin is mostly evident among teenagers with raging hormones, oily skin can also exist among more mature people and even beyond puberty. There can actually be lots of reasons why these happen. One can be blamed from the food being eaten as well as the things you suddenly decide to put on your face. Everyday, the skin naturally produces oil to facilitate moisturizing. However, some people’s supply tends to go on an overdrive thus oily skin happens.
Most people find having oily skin a really hard thing to keep up with. On the most general sense, it can really look largely unattractive especially when you are about to meet other people. Just imagine having a face wherein people can actually think of frying an egg because of all that oil. Plus, an oily face easily attracts dirt causing sebum to accumulate and therefore become skin impurities. Oily skin has always been known for its ability to produce blackheads, whiteheads, and of course the unwanted and unbearable presence of pimples.
Preventing the occurrence of oily skin can actually become easy. You don’t necessarily have to consult a dermatologist on a regular basis if your skin do not oil way too much. All it takes is a proper contingency or maintenance plan to make sure that you will not develop an oily skin. Among the most basic things you can do is to try becoming more detailed when it comes to choosing what you put on your face. If you already have oily skin, it would be best if you choose facial products which are not oil based. There are lots of products which are specially formulated for oily skin so make sure you choose those types of items. Water based solutions are often very popular when it comes to treating an oily skin.
You should also remember to wash your face regularly. Do these before you start off your day and also before you got to sleep. Washing up your face helps prevent your pores from clogging. The mixture of oil and dirt are the ones responsible for skin impurities among people who have oily skin. So to make sure that this mixture does not get to penetrate deep within the facial skin, wash your face two to three times every single day. But do not overdo it as well as you may then end up with a dry and flaky skin type.
You should also remember to remove makeup at the end of the day. Never ever make the mistake of sleeping with your makeup on. Aside from being a great source of pores clogging, you will also give your facial skin a harder time to repair its lost tissues and cells with all those makeup on.
Lastly, follow your personalized regimen regularly. Try not to deviate from it, especially if the regimen was prescribed by a dermatologist. Make sure that you follow instructions closely.
Do you want to bring the back the fire into your relationship? Do you want to awaken the sexual creature within you? May be you have thought of using artificial products to enhance sexual performance but are afraid of the side effects. If you want to heat things up but don’t want any chemicals then go organic as I present some herbal aphrodisiacs guaranteed to make those cold nights a lot hotter.
Ginseng has been one of the top herbal aphrodisiacs that are out in the market. It is said to have revitalizing effects over the body. There are actually different kinds of ginseng. Those that are called Panax quinquefolius, or Canadian, American or North American ginseng are good for cooling whereas Panax ginseng, also called Asian, Korean or Chinese ginseng have heating properties thereby improving circulation. A study showed that sixty percent of those that took ginseng continuously improved in their erectile dysfunction. The prescribed ginseng dosage is about 200 mg a day.
Another herbal aphrodisiac is the horny goat weed which is said to be discovered by a goat herder who noticed increased sexual intercourses in the goats when they ingested this leafy plant that came from the Mediterranean and Asian region. Horny goat weed has been said to produce the same effects as Viagra does and is recommended both for men and women. This weed is said to relax muscles therefore improving circulation and regulates hormone levels in men and women.
Another recommended Viagra alternative is the L-Arginine which is an amino acid that is produced by the kidney and liver and can also be found in common food products such as meat, dairy products, poultry, nuts and fish. Like sildenafil citrate or Viagra, L-Arginine increases nictirc oxide that relaxes the muscles near the penis thereby enabling better blood circulation.
Tongkat Ali, which came from the Asian countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, has been said to increase sexual performance, libido and sexual activity. It is good to conquer erectile dysfunction as it increases the male hormone testosterone. Testosterone is the hormone responsible for the development of the male reproductive organ and the maintenance of sexual desire.
A study conducted in a plant called Maca showed that the men who ingested them improved their sperm count, seminal volume, and sperm motility. Though Maca does not seem to affect hormone levels, it improved the sexual desire of the men who took them.
Muira Puama, also known as Potency Wood, Ptychopetalum uncinatum or
Ptychopetalum olacoides, is a tree that grows in Brazil and has been reputed to have aphrodisiac effects. It has been said to be the answer for sexual dysfunction in women and erectile dysfunction in men. Two to four milligrams of Muira Puama extract per day has been the recommended dosage.
Yohimbe or Pausinystalia yohimbe is a tree that grows in Congo, Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria and Gabon. The bark of the Yohimbe tree has been said to treat erectile problems and increase the libido. It has been the popular prescription in the United States before Viagra came along. Like other herbs that treat erectile problems, Yohimbe has been said to relax the blood vessels that are near the penis and dilate them causing increased and better blood flow. It is also said to stimulate the area of the brain that is responsible for sexual desires.
Almost every woman face the risk of having breast cancer. This particular illness often attacks women at the most unexpected times. Usually, breast cancer is detected as a malignant cell formation inside the breast area. In addition, breast cancer is also identified as heterogeneous. This means that the appearance of cancer cells can be observed differently from one woman to another. Breast cancer is also an illness which can strike rather early as young women are found to be more susceptible to the illness compared to older ones.
Because of its occurrence among young women, breast examinations are advised on a regular basis. In such a procedure, a gynecologist will facilitate checking if the patient has any signs of unusual formations inside the breast area. Check ups are advised every three up to six months maximum interval. If in case the patient was not diagnosed at an early stage, breast cancer can lead to masectomy—removal of cancerous breast area. To avoid this, regular check ups are highly recommended especially among women who have a family history of breast cancer.
Usually, breast cancer is hard to detect without the aid of check ups as it does not really exhibit any pain unlike the other types of cancer. However, there still are some telling signs which can pretty much help you detect or become more attuned to finding out if you have breast cancer. One of them is a notable change around the nipple and underarm area. Should you feel that your nipples have suddenly become tender and a certain lump or thickened part has emerged from within the breast area or the underarm area have appeared, you should definitely go see your doctor.
Breast cancer can also be characterized by the change in the appearance of the nipple and the entire breast. For the nipples, telling signs of breast cancer may come in the form of having scaly, swollen, and red nipples. You can also observe that your nipples may have turned to be slightly orange-colored and that it has also turned inward all of a sudden. Some ridge-like formations can also occur around the nipple area. Moreover, a nipple discharge is also considered to be a symptom of breast cancer. Usually, it either comes as a clear or a bloody nipple discharge. If this case is already observed, you may also start to feel some breast pains already.
Breast cancer symptoms can also be seen around the breast area and even up until the underarms. Swelling will also be observed inside the area of the arm pits and sometimes the swelling comes out as lumps as well. As soon as doctors find lumps around the breast areas, they automatically issue further examinations because this can already be a sign of a developing cancer cells within the breast area. Apart from these symptoms, rashes are also indicative of breast cancer. You can also observe that dimples have already appeared on your skin right at the breast area as a sign of breast cancer.
Think about your favorite food. There is a good chance that it contains sugar in some form or the other. There are a very few people who do not like sugar. It is a favorite among children. Besides taste, sugar serves as a preservative and also helps giving colour to the food. Despite so many uses, what is the first question that springs to mind when someone discovers he/she has diabetes: have I been taking a lot of sugar? Don’t always believe this to be true. Learn all about the sugar facts before you make sugar the culprit.
What are sugars?
Sugars are carbohydrates and are present in many different forms. They occur in natural form in foods or are added to foods. The different forms of sugars include sucrose, glucose, fructose and galactose. What you eat, that is, table sugar is sucrose.
Functions of sugar
Sugar, being a carbohydrate, is the main energy source for the body. In the body, the sugars, which are present in a complex form breakdown into simple sugars. These simple sugars then travel through the blood and reach the different cells of the body. In the cells, the sugars provide energy for various cell functions and the excess amount is stored for future use. Other than these body functions, sugar impart taste, texture and color to the foods.
Sugar and diabetes
Diabetes is not a disorder that is caused by sugar. It is a disorder in the way the body handles the sugar in the body. Insulin is the hormone that controls the sugar levels in the blood. In diabetics, the blood sugar levels elevate. This is due to the insensitivity of insulin or lack of insulin. So there is no role of sugar in causing diabetes. Sugar does not reduce the production of insulin or makes it unavailable for use in the body. In fact, sugar is necessary since all sugars are decomposed into glucose for utilization. Glucose is the form of sugar, which is utilized by most body parts. Your brain alone needs 125 to 150 grams of glucose per day. Hence without glucose, survival is difficult.
Also, more than sugar fat is more linked to diabetes. This is because fats are the other source of energy for the body. The energy supplied by sugar is fast energy and is utilized also equally fast, whereas the energy supplied by fats gets stored in the body and keeps you moving all day and night. So if the fat is in excess or in limited quantities, there will be fluctuations in the blood glucose levels. So sugars alone do not cause diabetes.
So the next time you meet a diabetic, do not blame his sugar intake for his diabetes. It is his lifestyle and other dietary habits that result in the disease.
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Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a meditation technique developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It is a practical technique that will help you gain better health, happiness and success, and improve your energy, creativity and intelligence. Here’s how:
- Simple, effortless technique: TM is a simple mental technique that can be learned easily without much effort. You don’t need any special ability to concentrate or control your mind, as in other meditation methods. In fact, it. s so simple that even a 10-year-old child can learn it easily.
- Absolutely natural: The best thing about it is, it. s absolutely natural, which means you don’t have to suffer any mental manipulation or suggestion, as in hypnosis.
- No physical postures: TM is not a physical exercise session either. There are no special postures or techniques.
- Not time-consuming: To practice TM all you need is 15-20 minutes, twice a day. You have to sit comfortably with your eyes closed and follow the technique. As simple as that.
- Works for everybody: TM works for everybody. No matter how busy or stressed you are. Extremely busy executives and businessmen may think, “Oh God, I can never sit still for 20 minutes.” But they need not worry; even they can learn to meditate the TM way. And it will work for them.
TM, then, is a simple and natural technique that you can learn without spending much time or doing any physical or mental manipulation. Anyone of any age, profession, education, religion, or culture can learn TM. It is as natural and automatic as atmospheric air.
How does TM help in relaxing?
- TM will make you relaxed by removing the stress and tension inside you. And this will in turn increase your energy and intelligence levels. TM returns the mind to its own original state of calm, which is a reservoir of energy, creativity and intelligence. After 20 minutes of practicing the technique, you can plunge into any activity with more creativity, zeal and intelligence.
- The natural way to remove stress is by taking deep rest, and the deeper the rest the better it is. This is the principle that TM uses in a unique manner. The deep rest that TM provides releases accumulated stress and tension, which does not happen even if you take a good night’s sleep, a restful vacation, do relaxation exercises, do jogging, or play golf or cricket. It is not just another form of activity or recreation.
All other forms of meditation or self-development exercises, like yoga and simple meditation, involve either concentration or contemplation. But there is no need to concentrate or contemplate on anything in TM. You can learn it easily and practice it without any effort. Research comparing TM with other meditation and relaxation techniques has found this technique to be far more effective for reducing anxiety, increasing self-actualization, improving psychological health and reducing the use of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.
In the course of breastfeeding your baby, there will inevitably be times when it seems there just isn’t enough milk to keep him satisfied. It happens to everyone, but knowing this doesn’t make it any easier. When faced with constant demands to breastfeed, mothers may doubt their body’s ability to nourish their child. Usually the supply is just fine, but there are several ways to increase it.
Why Is My Baby Always Hungry?
Growth spurts are usually responsible for these back-to-back feeding frenzies. At several points in an infant’s development, he will have periods of rapid growth and his nutritional requirements will increase. He’ll nurse more often, which will in turn build up the supply. When the supply increases to the level he needs, the nursing frequency should subside. Do not supplement the baby with formula or offer cereal during these growth spurts. Supplementation will reduce the nursing frequency, but it will also reduce the milk supply.
Take Care Of Yourself
You can help your body do its job in producing milk by taking care of yourself. Get adequate rest (not always easy!), eat healthy meals, and drink lots of water. Water and rest are essential for milk production! Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Take a day off from your regular routines; spend time in bed snuggling with your baby and nursing on demand.
Express Yourself
Expressing your breast milk either manually or with a breast pump may also help increase your supply. This is essential for mothers who work away from the home or have to spend time away from the baby for any reason. If you and baby are separated, try to use the breast pump at least every four hours, emptying both breasts. If you can’t store the breast milk in a cooler or refrigerator, don’t despair about dumping it. The act of expressing the milk ensures that there will be more where that came from.
Herbal Remedies
If you feel that a little extra help is needed, there are various herbs that are useful in building the milk supply. Fenugreek is probably the best known. It comes in capsules, or in a tea. Follow the directions on the package. Don’t use more than the suggested amount or you may find that your cups runneth over! Other herbs that may increase milk supply include blessed thistle, raspberry leaf, fennel, and brewer’s yeast. Mother’s Milk Tea, available at health food stores, combines various herbs for a pleasant-tasting beverage.
Things To Avoid
If you’re trying to build up your milk supply, the last thing you’ll want to do is something that may actually work against your efforts. The most important thing to avoid is supplementation of any kind, for at least the first six months. No formula, water, juice, cereal, or other foods should be given to the baby no matter how difficult it may seem or how tired you are at 3:00 a.m. Avoid birth control pills that contain estrogen (mini-pills are safe, since they only contain progesterone), implants, or injectables. (Injectable birth control is generally considered safe, but it’s not foolproof and once injected there’s no way to stop the process.) Antihistimines can reduce the milk supply, as can various herbs such as mint, aloe, ginseng, golden seal, green tea, guarana, and ma huang.
After following these guidelines to increase milk supply, if you’re still having trouble and fear that the baby isn’t receiving enough nutrition, please consult with a lactation consultant or contact a La Leche League leader. Visit http://www.lalecheleague.org to find a group in your area.
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Everybody loves to eat. Food is one pleasurable experience which most people can indulge in without really the worry of doing something illegal. Eating is an experience that we often extend to and share with loved ones and other people whom we want to engage in good conversations with. But nowadays, times have changed and this enforced that we watch not just what we do but even what we eat. Among the most common problems encountered is cholesterol.
Having high cholesterol puts a person at risk in so many ways. Cholesterol is often caused by the excessive build up of fats inside the body. Among the usual illnesses associated with having high levels of cholesterol is heart attack. Cholesterol causes heart attack because its thick composition blocks the blood vessels and therefore affects the blood flow inside the body. In addition to that, cholesterol also thickens the composition of the blood by causing a deficiency in certain blood components. These are the reasons why high cholesterol accounts for a higher possibility of experiencing heart attack.
Once the person has been detected with having a high level of cholesterol, proper diet and at times medical regulation has to be followed. Usually, doctors will prescribe medications to help regulate the blood pressure but for the most part food intake will be the most important thing to keep and eye on. This is why proper diet becomes inevitably important when it comes to lowering cholesterol levels. And of course, the most popular way to do this is by adapting the natural method of food preparation.
Lowering your blood cholesterol all starts with the right type of food choice. Before you can start with an all-natural diet you should start first with doing an overhaul of your kitchen. Start looking inside your cabinet and your refrigerator and dispose of the food which you know will just trigger your cholesterol level. Take the processed foods out of your refrigerator and do away with all the junk food. Instead, stack up on fresh fruits and vegetables. There are lots of different things which you can do with fruits so you can easily grab them in case you feel like munching on something.
When it comes to putting stuff in the food you are cooking, garlic and fish oil are two known substances which can effectively protect your heart. Studies have shown that garlic can effectively reduce the possible increase of arteriosclerosis. On the other hand, fish oil has ingredients which contain special components that enable the decrease of fats and therefore minimize the chances of having high cholesterol levels. Moreover, fish oil is also proven to be really helpful among women because it reduces the chances of having blood clotting.
Aside from food, engaging in proper exercise is also a good way of reducing one’s high cholesterol level. Doing proper daily exercise is definitely a good way of lowering the risk of having cholesterol which can eventually lead to heart attack. Through proper exercise, your body fat will be reduced and so cholesterol build-up will cease to happen.
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